In the last several years, Cascadia has seen a tsunami of proposals to expand the region’s capacity to ship coal and oil throughout and out of the region. More recently, a third wave of proposals has emerged: fracked petrochemicals, including methanol, which Chinese companies would use to make plastics.
But methanol comes at a high cost. Sometimes pitched as green, there is no evidence to support the project’s hype of environmental responsibility. In fact, the plants that produce it require massive amounts of energy and water, even as they spew out wastewater and heavy metals and fill the air with toxic and climate-destabilizing pollution.
The proposed methanol refinery in Kalama, Washington, would be the world’s largest, opening the floodgates for fracked gas refining and export in Cascadia.
On Monday, April 24, Sightline policy director Eric de Place will speak in Seattle about fracked gas and the proposed Kalama methanol refinery. Dr. Mark Vossler, of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, and local Kalama activist John Flynn will also join in on the discussion.
Read Eric’s research here, and check out our three-minute infographic introduction to methanol in the Northwest and our Kalama methanol refinery infographic.
Event: “Explained: Natural Gas and World’s Largest Methanol Refinery”
- Speakers: Eric de Place, Sightline Institute policy director; Dr. Mark Vossler, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility; John Flynn, local Kalama activist
- Where: University Friends Meeting, 4001 9th Ave NE, Seattle, Washington 98105 (map)
- When: Monday, April 24, 2017, 6:30 – 8:00 PM (RSVP here)
- Sponsor: Sierra Club
- The event is free and open to the public; childcare will be provided.
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